TAKE A BOW: Alice in Wonderland's Gisborne dancers centre stage as Piper Vroom, Catalina Camero, Ashleigh Brown and Norah Alexander join in with Mebourne City Ballet Company dancers. Picture by Kirstie Brown
TAKE A BOW: Alice in Wonderland's Gisborne dancers centre stage as Piper Vroom, Catalina Camero, Ashleigh Brown and Norah Alexander join in with Mebourne City Ballet Company dancers. Picture by Kirstie Brown
Were mums and dads buzzing as much as their daughters after four young Gisborne ballerinas performed in Melbourne City Ballet’s production of Alice In Wonderland on Wednesday?
“Most definitely,” says Kirstie Brown.
Miss Brown’s daughter Ashleigh; Piper Vroom, Catalina Camero and Norah Alexander were cast as hedgehogs in the productionat the War Memorial Theatre. In the version of the show adapted from Lewis Carroll’s novel and given a Pacific twist, the young ballerinas performed in the cricket scene (croquet in the original) in which the Queen of Hearts was mean to them.
“One was treated like a cricket ball and the Queen of Hearts pushed Ashleigh around,” says Miss Brown.
The girls were on stage for a short time but returned for the curtain call at the end to resounding applause from the packed auditorium.
Ashleigh was one of four dancers selected from a workshop led by dancers from the Melbourne troupe of more than 35 eight to 18-year-olds. She was very lucky to have been one of the chosen four, says Miss Brown.
“She knew they were going to choose a few dancers and understood if she didn’t get picked the opportunity was all about the experience. The girls got to meet the dancers. They were really accommodating and signed their programmes.”
